IN THE NEWS: A high fever alone is not enough to warrant hospitalization of patients such as Thomas Eric Thomas, the Liberian man who was sent home from a Dallas hospital emergency room and later died of the Ebola virus, UC Irvine emergency medicine specialist Dr. Kristi L. Koenig tells the Los Angeles Times.
“I have certainly discharged many people with a 103-degree fever,” said Koenig, a UC Irvine School of Medicine professor of emergency medicine and director of its Center of Disaster Medical Services.
There are additional considerations to take into account, she said, adding, “Are they able to walk, or talk or eat? It’s not just the number.”